Life Update: A Successful Surgery

Hey, friends! I must say I have missed blogging and reading all of your blogs so much over the last two weeks, but today is the first day I felt up to writing a post.

As most of you know, I had surgery on Wednesday, July 20. It went (almost) as well as possible, given the circumstances. That morning, I woke up feeling at peace. That’s not to say I wasn’t nervous (my naturally high heart rate went up to 150 and even hit 180 when I had a coughing fit after the epidural), but I was so ready. Even though I knew recovery from surgery would be tough, I had been in pain for so many months at that point that I was ready to move forward in the healing process.

My pre-op experience was so much better than expected. Meeting all the doctors really helped. My anesthesiologist was truly a gem. Not only was she super hilarious, it was so easy to tell she knew what she was doing. I opted to get an epidural, which was the best decision ever. I can’t even imagine how much pain I would have experienced after my surgery if not for that epidural. I can definitely see why they’re so popular for people giving birth!

The last thing I remember before going under anesthesia was my anesthesiologist telling me she has a close Russian friend, and she knows a phrase in Russian. That phrase was “I have lost my mind.” I’m also pretty sure I said “that feels weird” as the anesthesia hit me. I had been under twilight anesthesia before but not general, and it felt like someone knocked me out.

So I said my surgery went almost as well as possible. During surgery, they noticed the problem with my ureter was worse than originally thought.  I had extremely severe scarring from my endometriosis, which made my ureter unable to expand. Because it was so bad, the urologist on call at the hospital wasn’t comfortable placing the stent, so they sent for a specialist from a nearby hospital. He wanted to put in a 7 cm. stent, but he could only manage a 5 cm. one. Although it made my recovery a bit more difficult, I’m glad they discovered that problem, or else I would have had to have another surgery in the future. I will be having a procedure to remove the stent in two weeks.

When you're a blogger, you take a photo of the hospital ceiling on the day of your surgery.

I mentioned in my surgery date post how scary it was sign a paper that said my surgeon could remove a number of organs. What I wasn’t ready to say at the time was that included every single one of my reproductive organs. My biggest fear going into the surgery was that I could completely lose the ability to become a mother to the point where we couldn’t even try IVF. I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am that this didn’t happen. God is so good, y’all. I ended up with the best-case scenario. I obviously had to lose the ovary and fallopian tube that had the massive cyst, but the doctor was able to save everything else.

I found out the morning after my surgery that the size of my endometrioma (around 20 cm.) was a personal record for my doctor. That doesn’t surprise me because I couldn’t find anything about endometriomas that big online, but I’m glad she didn’t tell me that before the surgery! One of the residents told me the doctor had been excited all week about my case since it was a really unique situation.

I stayed in the hospital for three nights. They thought I might need four nights in the hospital but knew it was my birthday, so they hoped to make it so I could leave a little early. On the morning of my birthday, I got my epidural and catheter removed, and the pain quickly became overwhelming. Thankfully, after a change in medication, the pain became manageable, and I was able to leave that evening. It was truly the biggest gift I could have asked for this year.

I couldn’t write this post without mentioning Chris. I’ve been even more thankful for him than usual throughout my healing process. He spent the night with me at the hospital every night, dealing with people coming in to check my vitals throughout the night. On my first night after surgery, I had to wake him up every hour to feed me ice because my throat hurt so much from being intubated. The next day he not only had to get up at 5 a.m. to get ready for work, but it was also his birthday.

The view from my hospital room.

As for now, the healing process is slow but steady. Every day feels like a significant improvement. My sweet Mama (who replaced Chris at the hospital at 5 a.m. every day I was there even though she lives an hour away) came to help me every day last week. On Sunday, I was able to walk outside a little for the first day since being discharged (I’ve never been so thankful to be out in the Texas heat!), and my Mom brought Skyler home on Monday (she was living with my parents for the last two weeks). Today is my follow-up appointment with my doctor, so hopefully, she will say everything is going well.

I wanted to thank y’all so much for your support! It has meant so much to me. A few years ago, I would have never imagined putting such a difficult situation in my life on the internet for everyone to read, but so many of y’all have come on this journey with me, so wanted to share the outcome. I am going to start slowly easing myself into blogging next week, starting with a books post on Monday. I can’t wait to read all of your blogs and see what everyone has been doing this summer. Much love!

Linking up with Kristen and Gretchen

Seattle Hacks: How to Have a Great Experience with a Smaller Price Tag

Seattle is one of my favorite cities in the United States, even though I have only visited twice for a short time (before and after two Alaska cruises). Mattie from Northwest Native used to live in Seattle, so I asked her to put together a post of some of her favorite things in the city. I can't wait to do all of these someday!

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As a former Seattle resident, I have my favorite places. Seattle is an expensive city, there's no denying that. But I have a couple of hacks for a great Seattle experience with a smaller price tag!

Fancy dinner?

You could opt for Seattle's most elite restaurant (with an elite price tag), Canlis. There's no denying that it has a beautiful view, but it's also well outside the city center. I've never been, and I'm sure it's delicious, but with the cheapest option on the menu costing $90 for three courses, it's not quite in our budget.

[image source]

One of my absolute favorite Seattle restaurants is The Pink Door. I may be biased, because the first time we went was the night that my husband proposed to me, and our second apartment in Seattle was within easy walking distance, but this place is quite literally a hidden gem. Nestled in Post Alley, part of the iconic Pike Place Market, the restaurant bares no signage, just a pale pink door in a gray wall. The dim lighting in the dining room makes for great ambience at dinner time, and there's also patio seating with a view. I've only visited in colder months, so I regrettably missed out on patio seating. There are also trapeze acts on certain nights in the dining room! Entrees run from $17-$31, and I've never had a disappointing order. (They also have gluten free pasta and bread options!)

[image source]

Honorable mention: Tavolata (close by/similar price range, but a smaller space and more 'hip' vibe)

View of the city?

The obvious choice is the observation deck of Seattle's landmark Space Needle, but it's also the priciest option. For single admission, adults are $22, seniors $19, and kids $14. You can buy a package of two tickets (the idea is to go once during daylight and once in the evening) for a slight discount: adults $39, seniors $36, kids $29.

A lesser-known option is the Sky View Observatory, which is 73 floors up. It's a great way to get a view of the city, especially because you get to see the Space Needle from the outside looking in. Tickets are $14.75 for adults, $9 for seniors, kids ages 6-12, and students/military with ID. If you were looking at doing the Space Needle twice, you could do the Space Needle once and Sky View once and save money and see two different views.

The cheapest of all is Kerry Park. In my mind, Kerry Park is a postcard view of Seattle. It's a free public viewpoint (but it's up a steep hill, so be ready to get a workout or drive/take some form of transportation).

[image source]

Ice cream?

Okay, you got me, this one has nothing to do with price, but I feel like I have to let everyone in on this. Molly Moon's is a very popular Seattle ice cream shop chain. There are some fun and unique flavors, but most flavors have no chunks or ribbons (aka the good stuff). I prefer to get my ice cream from Cupcake Royale (another local chain). Their Stumptown coffee with dark chocolate ribbon and salted caramel cupcake flavors are my favorites! I've never had an ice cream with cake pieces in it where the cake actually kept its texture like Cupcake Royale's does.

[image sources: Molly Moon's, Cupcake Royale]

P.S. Cupcake Royale may win the ice cream round, but my favorite cupcakes in the city come from Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co!

Emily's Top Five Travel Memories

Hey, friends! Today, I have such a fun guest post from Emily at Everyday Accounts to share with y'all! Emily and I share two very big things in common: our love for travel and Baylor! I absolutely love reading her travel posts. She and her husband go on so many fun adventures, so I was excited she decided to share her top travel memories with you today. I know I will be taking notes for our next trip!

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Hello there, The Siberian American readers! I'm Emily, and you can find me at my blog Everyday Accounts. I was so excited when Olya asked me to guest post on her blog since we share so many common interests. I discovered Olya's blog earlier this year, and we quickly realized we both lived in the same residence hall during our first years at Baylor! I'm very happy to be guest posting for her as she recovers from surgery. Many prayers are heading your way, Olya!

 
My husband and I have made travel and adventure a top priority throughout our first five years of marriage despite both holding full-time jobs. On my blog, I share about our travels, and I'm always sharing about our everyday lives at home in Austin. Currently, I'm writing up mini travel guides on the cities we visited on an extended trip around Western Europe. I knew I wanted to share something travel-related today, and after thinking about it, I decided to share my five favorite travel memories from the past five years. We have so many great memories from our adventures, but these five snippets were what immediately came to mind as I was brainstorming for this post.

Exploring Central Park in the Fall

I'll start with a memory from our trip to New York City during the fall of 2012. We moved up to Washington DC at the end of 2011, and one of the things we looked forward to most was being just a quick train journey away from New York City! During the time we lived in DC, we did both a fall trip and a Christmastime trip to NYC. Both were really memorable, but I think back more often to our time in NYC during the fall since it was one of the first trips we took together.

Central Park in the fall

Exploring Central Park in the fall for the first time was amazing. It was in this moment that this Texas girl truly saw fall for what it was and fell in love. We walked around with warm coffee cups in hand, enjoying people-watching as local joggers and families scurried by. Everyone was bundled up for a chilly fall day, my favorite kind of weather, and the gorgeous autumn colors painted the perfect backdrop. I could sit on a bench in Central Park during fall all day long. Ever since we moved back to Texas, I miss the fall season every day!

Palace of Versailles

During the spring of 2014, we traveled across the pond to London and Paris for our first international trip together. We loved everything about that trip (with the exception of getting my new iPhone stolen in Paris), but the one memory that stands out the most is when we took the train and spent a full day at the Palace of Versailles.



This day was actually my birthday, and it was perfect! The palace tour is amazing, but in my opinion, the true gem of Versailles is spending time in the gardens. We spent nearly six hours exploring the gardens alone, completely surprised by how much there was to see and the never-ending beauty! We walked and walked, had lunch at a restaurant in the gardens, took a row boat out on the Grand Canal, and ran through the occasional rain shower. We ended the day at a cute French restaurant just off of the Palace property in the city of Versailles.

Journey to Ollantaytambo, Peru

Sacred Valley of Peru

2015 was a significant year of travel for us. It started off with a trip down to Peru during August. The whole trip was a dream, but the moments we remember most (even more than our day at the incredible Machu Picchu) are from our journey to the town of Ollantaytambo. We knew we needed to get to the town of Ollantaytambo from Cusco to catch our train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu, but we didn't know how we were going to get there. We ended up hiring a taxi driver recommended by our hotel to take us on a tour of the Sacred Valley on our way to Ollantaytambo. We stopped at several sites along the way including the Chinchero textile market, the Moray Incan ruins, the Maras Salt Mines, and the Ollantaytambo Incan ruins. The scenery in this part of Peru is breath-taking, and we learned a lot from our taxi driver. I also have a long story about how our driver basically had to smuggle us into Ollantaytambo because there were police collecting a tariff on taxi drivers at the entrance, but that's a story for another day. :)

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

On Thanksgiving 2015, we hopped on a plane to explore a few cities in Austria and Germany during their Christmas market season. Since I'm slightly obsessed with everything related to Christmas, this whole trip was a dream for me. However, the moment that stands out the most was our one-night stay in the village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. Rothenburg is a quintessential German village. It is so cute and charming that it almost seems like a theme park (only much quieter and much more pleasant). The icing on the cake is that Rothenburg becomes a Christmas wonderland during the holiday season. Every building and road is lined with Christmas decorations. Sitting on one of the the main roads is the original Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop, a massive German Christmas store that contains a Christmas Village inside. There is an adorable Christmas market on the main square. Family-owned restaurants are decked out for the season and serve great home-cooked food. Basically, if you love Christmas, get yourself over to Rothenburg sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. You will not be disappointed!

Bellagio

View of Lake Como from the balcony of our Bellagio Airbnb

In early 2016, Daniel and I had the opportunity to take three months off to travel around Europe. We had so many amazing moments during our three months, but the one memory I want to share is our time in Bellagio, Italy. Since we were traveling for so long on this trip, we made sure to build in a few longer segments in quiet places to rest and enjoy. We spent five nights in Bellagio, and I will never forget those days. View of Lake Como from the balcony of our Bellagio Airbnb

Since it was off-season, it was basically just us and the locals in this enchanting village. We explored the quiet streets, cooked meals of fresh pasta every day, took a day trip via boat to other villages on Lake Como, got lots of sleep, and stared out at our view of the lake for hours. This was also the BEST Airbnb we stayed at during our whole trip. We'd love to go back to Lake Como when the famous villas and more restaurants are open, but I wouldn't trade the peace and quiet of our time there for anything.

Those are my top five travel memories! Thank you so much for letting me guest post, Olya! I wish you the very best in your recovery from surgery and hope that you are feeling better soon. We are all thinking of you!

Five Things to Do in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Hey, everyone! I only recently discovered Crystal's blog, Dreams, etc., and I can't wait to read it more when I'm recovered. Today, I asked her to share about the Twin Cities because I have never been and would love to go someday!

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Hello Siberian American readers! I'm Crystal, the storyteller behind the blog Dreams, etc. and I live with Minneapolis with my sweet pup Little One.

 

Can I let you in on a little secret? When I moved to Minnesota at the age of nine, I was not a happy camper. I had no desire to live in Minneapolis and always planned to move away. I had dreams of living by the ocean, or in the mountains, or in New York or Seattle.... the list was endless! Basically, I wanted to live anywhere but Minneapolis and I let my parents know it. And while I still sometimes think about moving someplace else, I'm really happy that I get to call Minneapolis home. There are so many things to love about this city--and so many things that make it a great destination to add to your travel bucket list. Here are five things to get you started if you visit the Twin Cities.

1 // Mall of America I’m putting this one on the list by default, because it is a well-known attraction in Minnesota and for that reason alone it’s worth a mention. I don’t spend a lot of time there and only go when my friends want to. It’s not my favorite place to be—and you’ll hear that from a lot of Minnesotans. It’s just so BIG! But, if you don’t mind the crowds, there’s a lot to do at MOA and you won’t be able to see or do it all in just a day. If you have kids, spend some time at Nickelodeon Universe (which will always be Camp Snoopy in my heart <3) and go on the rides! My favorite is the Paul Bunyan Log Chute, because a water ride with a folklore tie-in makes for a happy Crystal! I’ve heard the Sea Life Aquarium is also a hit, although I’ve never checked it out. The Mall of America is also a shopper’s paradise. If you have specific stores you’d like to hit, be sure to check out a mall map, otherwise you can just stroll around and see what you find. Spend the day shopping, grab a bite to eat after and end the visit with a movie at the theater!

2 // Take in the Art Scene One of my favorite things about Minneapolis is its passion for the arts. During the warmer months (and even during winter) you can usually find an art festival or open artist studios to tour. If you enjoy those types of activities, keep an eye out for Art-a-Whirl in May, a weekend devoted to open artist studios! We also have quite a few noteworthy art museums: Minneapolis Institute of Art (my fave--the museum also has a great view of the Minneapolis skyline), the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, and the Walker Art Center with the sculpture garden (where you can see the iconic Cherry and Spoon, although it's currently closed until June 2017) across the street.



3 // Visit the Theater Love the theater? Check out what’s playing at the Orpheum or the Guthrie (this is one of the coolest buildings AND it's located in my favorite part of the city). Or head into the other half of the Twin Cities for the night to see what’s playing at the Ordway in St. Paul. You can also check out one of the smaller theaters in Minneapolis: Mixed Blood, The Jungle Theater. My favorite is Theater in the Round. It’s totally affordable and I was wowed by the two plays that I saw there: Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing (my all-time favorite play)! Be sure to grab dinner before the show. The Old Spaghetti Factory isn't too far away and it's totally worth a visit!

4 // Spend Time in St. Paul Minneapolis my favorite of the Twin Cities, but St. Paul is a charming city to visit. It's also the home of one of my favorite museums: the Science Museum. That might sound a little nerdy, but I absolutely love spending time there. Check out their permanent exhibit and look for the mummy. See what special exhibit they have (I've never been disappointed) and check out an Omnitheater show (probably my favorite thing to do there). Other notable activities in St. Paul: visit the state capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul, tour the James J. Hill House, and check out a Gangster Tour and/or the F. Scott Fitzgerald tour (two things on my St. Paul bucket list).

5 // Minnehaha Falls One of my favorite places in Minneapolis is Minnehaha Falls and it's always a stop that I recommend when I hear that someone's visiting. It's a beautiful sight, no matter when you visit! During the summer you can see the falls in action and walk along the river. The falls are also spectacular during winter when all the water freezes. I've only been there once, but it such a spectacular sight and I'd love to see the frozen falls again!

A big thank you to Olya for letting me write about this city that I’ve grown to love so much. And thank you for taking some time to read through this massive post. I hope it’s piqued your interest in this beautiful and vibrant city!

How to Fall in Love with Your City

I don't think I have told Chelsea this before, but hers was one of the blogs I read before I started a blog. We were at a similar place in our lives, and I've always loved her inspirational posts and sense of humor! Now, she's a great blog friend, and I always look forward to her posts. Thanks for sharing a great post with my readers today, Chelsea! :)

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Hi friends! My name is Chelsea and I blog over at The Girl Who Loved to Write.
I started following Olya's blog forever ago. I noticed that her husband was also in medical school and that he was the year above mine, so I loved getting her perspective on what was to come. Now that we've both made it out of the med-school phase of life (YAY), one thing we have in common is that we've both had to move for our husband's medical careers. 
Falling in love with your city takes some work, whether you've just moved somewhere or you've lived there for ages. But it is possible! Here are some ways I've found that work for me.

Step out of your comfort zone. Whether you've lived in your city for years or you've just moved there, you're not going to fall in love with it by staying inside your house and not pushing yourself to try new things. It can be uncomfortable, but after the first few times of pushing yourself, it only gets easier!
So step out of your comfort zone! Go to events in your area, even if you normally don't go places alone. Get coffee and strike up a conversation with your barista. Join a small group or a book club. Even if you're introverted (like me!), you can do it!
Look up reviews as if you didn't live in your city. When you're on vacation and want to find somewhere to eat, chances are you don't go to a chain you already know about. You research! You yelp and google and find out where people's favorite places are. So why not do that for your own city? Test out the brunch place with the highest ratings and see if you agree. Try out the happy hour with live music. Grab a beer at the hole-in-the-wall place you would have never thought to try. If other people in your city liked it, chances are, you will too.  
Seek out the things you like. It's so easy to just say, "This town doesn't have a lot that I like." And just leave it at that. A moment of honesty: Falling in love with your city sometimes takes a little bit of work. 
So do the work. If you love reading, look up bookstores near you. And for goodness sake, get a library card! If you love getting fancy, look up wine tastings. If shopping is your thing, look up boutiques. 
So many times we say there's nothing to do where we live, but a more truthful statement would be, "I haven't stumbled upon anything I love on my drive home from work." A little bit of effort can result in a lot of new favorites!
Stay positive. If you move to a new place convinced you will hate it, chances are, you'll hate it. If you tell yourself that you've lived in your city for six years so you know all there is to know, you'll never make fun new discoveries. 
Whether you've just moved somewhere new or you've lived in a city that's not your favorite for years, a little bit of positivity can shine a fresh light on things. View the time you get to spend here as an adventure, and it will quickly turn into an adventure. 
What are some ways you've fallen in love with a city before?